Severe visual impairment in children with mild or moderate retinal residua following regressed threshold retinopathy of prematurity.

PURPOSE: To describe clinical features of patients from the Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity (CRYO-ROP) trial who, after developing severe ROP in infancy, had minimal or moderate retinal residua in at least one eye but a visual acuity of worse than 20/200 in both eyes at the 10 year examination.

METHODS

Data from the 10 year CRYO-ROP Trial follow-up exams were evaluated to identify all patients with retinal outcomes of no retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) residua, straightened temporal vessels, or macular heterotopia in at least one eye, but visual acuity less than 20/200 in both eyes. Presence of optic atrophy, nystagmus, and optic disk cupping and developmental survey results were examined.

RESULTS

Of 247 patients examined at 10 years, 16 met our inclusion criteria. At the last age at which the following data were recorded, seven had optic atrophy at the 10 year examination, one had optic disk cupping >0.5 at the 5(1/2) year examination, and eight had nystagmus under binocular conditions at the 24 month examination. Nine patients had a below-normal developmental test score on the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM). After clinical data interpretation, we concluded that the predominant cause of visual impairment was postgeniculate disease in five patients, ROP in six patients, and combined anterior and posterior visual pathway disease in two patients; in three patients data were insufficient to make a determination.

CONCLUSIONS

Poor visual function with mild to moderate retinal residua of severe ROP in at least one eye is relatively rare. In such patients, anterior, posterior, or combined visual pathway disease can occur.